Who is carrying Del Olmo’s torch?
Re “Del Olmo School is dedicated in memory of Times columnist,” Nov. 2
The Times’ story was a fitting tribune to Frank del Olmo, a reporter, editorial writer and columnist who cared deeply about issues of fairness, equality and compassion. He probably didn’t know it at the time, but his ascension in The Times’ newsroom after the tragic death of Times columnist Ruben Salazar in 1970 ensured that Del Olmo would follow up on Salazar’s columns, in which he shined a reporter’s flashlight on vexing issues that faced the area’s Mexican American population. Del Olmo not only picked up that flashlight, he also supplied nearly 35 years’ worth of batteries to chronicle those issues and others.
Left unsaid in The Times’ story on the new elementary school was this: Who in The Times’ newsroom today will pick up that flashlight and supply new batteries?
GEORGE RAMOS
San Luis Obispo
The writer is chairman of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s journalism department.
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